Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Victor Davis Hanson: When Has War Even Been ‘Proportional?’
American Greatness ^ | 16 Nov, 2023 | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 11/16/2023 6:11:00 AM PST by MtnClimber

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 next last
To: MtnClimber

“Proportional” refers to an attack’s enemy combatant/enemy civilian death/injury ratios.

“Proportional” does not refer to any IDF/Gazan fighter death/injury ratio. It is perfectly OK for the IDF to kill 100 Jihadists in an attack and not suffer a single loss itself.

If the IDF can spot a Jihadist, so can a Gazan civilian. Gazan civilians should be aware of what the IDF will do to Jihadists and stay far away from them.


21 posted on 11/16/2023 6:55:40 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
"A proportional response is the only principled and moral way for civilized countries to wage war and it is extremely important to all of mankind."
--Says the losing side in a war.

22 posted on 11/16/2023 6:56:17 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a strong bias will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Proportional? The last thing one wants to do is have a “fair” fight.


23 posted on 11/16/2023 7:00:36 AM PST by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

STALEMATE. Endless killing with nothing resolved and no outcome. I can see why the RAT politicians think war should be “proportional.”


24 posted on 11/16/2023 7:01:32 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer ('Build Back Better' is a Bidenskyyyyyyism for 'we gotta get rid of all dem white peoples'.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
The pro-Hamas rallies in the US have shined a spotlight on who the leftists are. Not that it was not pretty clear before.

Even more than that, it has revealed the sordid state of education, our so called media, and our elected officials. All of it adds up to something really bad, not as horrific as Hamas, but certainly moving in that direction.

25 posted on 11/16/2023 7:04:08 AM PST by 1Old Pro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

As usual, VDH hits the nail on the head.


26 posted on 11/16/2023 7:05:45 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: piytar
Israel gets this.

I pray you are correct.

27 posted on 11/16/2023 7:10:13 AM PST by marktwain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Every war the US has been involved with since Korea!!

We no longer fight to win (using more force, bigger bombs, maiming production capabilities, etc.), we fight to get to a “fair and equitable” stalemate!


28 posted on 11/16/2023 7:22:38 AM PST by ExTxMarine (Grace is getting what you don’t deserve! Mercy is NOT getting what you actually deserve!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
When two sides go at it with roughly equal forces, weapons, and strategies, the result is often a horrific deadlock—like the four years of toxic trench warfare on the Western Front of World War I that resulted in 12 million fatalities.

When Israel moves quickly, lives are saved...

29 posted on 11/16/2023 7:25:45 AM PST by GOPJ (When white liberal 'elites' say we must 'save democracy' they mean 'save white liberal elite power'.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Taxman

ping


30 posted on 11/16/2023 7:50:25 AM PST by Taxman ((SAVE AMERICA! VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2024! SAVE AMERICA!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Based on the reasoning of proportional responses , our proportional response to Pearl Harbor , should have been us bombing some Japanese military bases. And not waging total war against the enemy to defeat them.


31 posted on 11/16/2023 8:07:24 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

WWII was the last war we fought properly.


32 posted on 11/16/2023 8:11:21 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Maybe things have changed since I was in the military, but we were taught that OVERWHELMING FORCE was the only way to victory with minimum casulties to our troops. Maybe things are different in today’s ‘woke’ war colleges. I hope not.


33 posted on 11/16/2023 8:13:03 AM PST by jimbug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

The people calling for “proportionality” are simply begging that Hamas be allowed to live to massacre Jews another day.


34 posted on 11/16/2023 8:22:12 AM PST by marron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

You kill them until they get tired of getting killed.


35 posted on 11/16/2023 8:24:23 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

You kill them until they get tired of getting killed.


36 posted on 11/16/2023 8:24:23 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Hiroshima and Nagasaki had some military significance but not a great deal. In effect the bombing was a terror raid and it worked! It broke the will of Japan to resist and saved countless American lives. Oddly it saved literally millions of Japanese lives. We had total dominance in the air over Japan. We would have methodically bombed their infrastructure and cities for months before invasion. Japans losses due to bombing, starvation, and disease would have been horrific.

The atomic bomb worked.


37 posted on 11/16/2023 8:55:41 AM PST by cpdiii (cane cutter-deckhand-oilfield roughneck-drilling fluiids tech-geologist-pilot-instructor-pharmacist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

I like the concept of proportionality. Take out a portion today and tomorrow and the next days until no portions are left.


38 posted on 11/16/2023 8:58:22 AM PST by cpdiii (cane cutter-deckhand-oilfield roughneck-drilling fluiids tech-geologist-pilot-instructor-pharmacist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
The "proportional war" nonsense is how you get nearly a century since the US won a war.

It's also how you get 30-year, Dick Cheney/Robert McNamara type wars.

I can not understand how you can be normal mentally and not understand that.

39 posted on 11/16/2023 9:17:14 AM PST by caddie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: cpdiii

“The atomic bomb worked.”

One of my neighbors as a kid was in the Philippines getting ready for the invasion of the Japanese mainland when Fat Man and Little Boy did their job. He lived to come home, marry, father four children and have a good life. He would probably have died in an invasion.
Untold millions would have died in an invasion.

Even Ozzy Osbourne knows the value of the bomb.

War is just another game
Tailor made for the insane
But make a threat of their annihilation
And nobody wants to play
If that’s the only thing that keeps the peace

Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Nuke you, nuke you


40 posted on 11/16/2023 9:34:56 AM PST by oldvirginian (I identify as a MAGA crested wacko-bird. Pronouns are Your Royal Majesty and Mr Fancy Pants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson